Jan Vojáček

Gregor Buchanan should be a good signing for you lot. I think he's probably not dissimilar to Nicky Jamieson. 90 percent of the time he'll battle his way through games, relishing physical battles and winning everything in the air. During that time you'll be wondering why he's playing at this level. Then he'll turn in a real stinker of a performance, where he's rash, easily turned, can't pass the ball and looks spooked by a striker's pace/physicality (delete as appropriate) and you'll go 'ahh, that's why he's not in the Championship any more.' Last season he was by and large excellent for us. As shown by our defensive record. But he still had a couple of horrorshows. As shown by the skelpings we took on occasion. The season before he was absolutely horrendous for the most part (as shown by our defensive record) but still put in a storming performance every few months to remind you how good he could be (as shown by him being MOTM in most of our wins). For an experienced player, I still think he plays best with someone more vocal alongside him. And I'm not convinced he's a captain, in the natural Andy Graham sense of the word, but I do think he's an upgrade on Sean Crighton for you lot, and I'm sure he'll do well at Ochilview. He's better than Crighton on the ball and isn't afraid to take it from the keeper, which is something you don't see all that often with decent centre-halves at this sort of level. He absolutely loves attempting a big raking pass to the edge of the opposition penalty box mind you, so brace yourself to hammer a seat when he does it as you're chasing a goal with five minutes to play, and it skips off the surface (again) and out for a goal kick (again).

Blair Malcolm was very good against us last year for Albion Rovers I thought. A real pain in the arse and a right nasty guy, snapping into challenges and trying to bully folk. I'm pleased we've brought him in, and we lacked a horrible guy in the team last year imo. Bucky going to a divisional rival is a blow. Although I guess we just couldn't cope with the $tenhous€muir coin. They are (again) building a very impressive squad for this league.

They won't spend very long at ours either I wouldn't think. Our pitch is a shambles and it amazes me that any team would pay to play on it.

My gut feeling is that this is a goer. It almost happened a few years ago too. And whilst it's more palatable than sharing with a B team, it raises a few questions. Firstly; just what state will our shambles of a park be in this winter? And secondly, what is the point in Broomhill FC? It's one thing having a club groundsharing away from its area for a few years, but with the goal of returning (see Clyde). It's also one thing having a club with a history and fanbase that has moved away from its original home, but kept its idenity (see Clyde). But a club that regularly changes its identity and is named after a part of Glasgow it hasn't played anywhere near? I just don't see the point. I understood it when there was the link with BSC. That makes the club a nomadic Spartans or Cumbernauld Colts I suppose. But with that gone, I don't see why they still exist - and I don't understand how it's funded. I think they've tried that avenue? It's a cracking facility, it's in the West End (sort of...the bit of the West End I could actually afford to live in a few years ago...) and the public transport links are excellent with loads of buses on Dumbarton Road and regular trains. That would be a very natural home for them. I remember my boys club playing BSC there back in the day (well, on the astro, not the big stadium!).

He was, aye. Albeit only with six (joint with Finlay Gray and Declan Byrne). Six goals is a good return for a centre-half mind you, most other teams would be delighted with that (and most other teams would have a striker on 15+!)

Went on Facebook to see how the news was going down. Plz tell me this is banter.

Gregor Buchanan away from Dumbarton https://twitter.com/GBuchanan4/status/1662060532755578880

That's really disappointing and a real blow. Gregor Buchanan will be the toughest player to replace in the squad I reckon; not just because he was a defender who was comfortable on the ball, but also for his threat at the other end. I said it countless times, but when he played well we won games. And quite often he was the difference between a draw and a defeat or a win and a draw last year. Add that to the fact he was barely ever injured or suspended, and you had a really good member of any squad at this level. I'm not convinced being captain fully suited him. And when he had a bad game then, my God, did he have a bad game (which normally resulted in us imploding). But it's difficult to see us being able to bring in someone as good as an on-form Gregor Buchanan. I'd guess he was one of our higher earners mind you, so it's not a total shock to see another of our marquee signings from 2021/22 moving on with Joe McKee already gone. I know he was linked with Stenny on Facebook, which wouldn't shock me. But I could also see him at Stirling Albion if they were in the market for another centre-half. Good luck to him wherever he ends up; he was one of few guys to be a good player across two spells for us - even if he didn't quite hit the heights of the Championship years.

Born in January 1989 too.

That wouldn't be the Alan Andrew Martin who has been at a few of our games with a certain Mr Hosie, and happens to have been an absolutely superb goalkeeper for us. Would it?

I can only base it on his time at Dumbarton, but a huge number of players explicitly said to me he was a great coach. Morgyn Neill, Ryan McGeever, Rico Quitongo to name but three. I don't think it's because he's a cushy guy either. I heard him dish out some absolute bollockings to players hanging about waiting for post match. A great coach does not equal a great manager though. And that's probably been Duffy's issue.

At least Lennon appears to have signed the better of the Scullion brothers tbf.

I know I'm a bit late to the party here. But Duffy as Director of Football is a very weird one. There's no denying he's an excellent coach. I've never heard a player say a bad word about him. What's always let him down is his recruitment. So moving him upstairs into a role where recruitment is a key responsibility (I assume) is absolutely bizarre. If he was being kept on, then he'd be better kept on as a coach or advisor to a rookie manager. Not moved upstairs imo.

Clyde release: Joshua Bradley-Hurst, Ross Cunningham, Paul Kennedy, Olly McDonald, Ryan Mullen, Neil Parry, Kurtis Roberts, Andy Rodden, Cameron Salkeld and Steven Thicot. Euan Cameron, Barry Cuddihy, Conner Duthie, Peter Grant, Ross Lyon, Brian McLean, Liam Scullion and Erik Sula all offered new deals. https://www.clydefc.co.uk/news/2023/05/squad-update-13/

It isn't a B team. Which is the only positive I can take. Given Rangers groundstaff couldn't make the park any better then two teams and no additional groundstaff really is going to be something else. No games between November and mid-April at home if there's a moderately bad winter.